This invention relates to integrated circuits and, more particularly, to a specialized processing block in an integrated circuit.
Consider a configurable device such as a programmable logic device (PLD) as one example of an integrated circuit. As applications for which configurable devices are used increase in complexity, it has become more common to include specialized processing blocks in configurable devices. Such specialized processing blocks may include a concentration of circuitry that has been partly or fully hardwired to perform one or more specific tasks, such as a logical or a mathematical operation. A specialized processing block may also contain one or more specialized structures, such as an array of configurable memory elements. Examples of structures that are commonly implemented in such specialized processing blocks include: multipliers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), barrel-shifters, various memory elements (such as first-in first-out (FIFO)/last-in first-out (LIFO)/serial-in parallel-out (SIPO)/random-access memory (RAM)/read-only memory (ROM)/content-addressable memory (CAM) blocks and register files), AND/NAND/OR/NOR arrays, etc., or combinations thereof.